[Greenbuilding] pvc or iron?

[Mark Piepkorn]

Thanks for the plug, Ron. BuildingGreen ended up pulling cast iron 
waste pipe from GreenSpec a while back. Here's the section intro for 
the Sanitary Waste and Vent Piping section at 
http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/productsByCsiSection.cfm?SubBuilderCategoryID=3320 
... Gennaro, take note:

"Most sanitary drain waste and vent (DWV) piping used today is made 
from PVC or ABS plastic. Both of these have toxic manufacturing 
intermediaries and require the use of hazardous solvents for welding 
the joints. PVC can also generate highly toxic dioxins in the case of 
accidental fire or improper incineration. Cast iron, the traditional 
DWV pipe material, has high recycled content, but the scrap metal is 
melted primarily with coke, and the toxic and carcinogenic emissions 
from coke manufacture makes cast iron worse than available plastic 
alternatives on a life-cycle basis. Vitrified clay pipe can be used 
in buildings as drain pipe but is more commonly used for 
larger-diameter sewage applications (where it competes with concrete 
and PVC); although heavy and labor-intensive, vitrified clay is the 
most durable waste and sewage piping material. Finally, there are 
some polyolefin (polyethylene and polypropylene) plastic pipes that 
can be used for drainage and venting. If plastic piping products are 
being chosen, look for recycled content. Products listed here now 
include vitrified clay pipe, but lower-impact plastic DWV piping will 
be listed if and when it becomes available."

A good new resource for green residential construction is 
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com , a collaboration of 
BuildingGreen and those muscular publishers of Fine Homebuilding, 
Taunton Press.


Mark


At 11:26 AM 2/2/2009, RONALD CASCIO wrote:
>If I may suggest, there is a wealth of information on common green 
>building practices available here;
>
>http://www.buildinggreen.com/
>
>For a fee you can access every article back to their first issue 
>years ago, and much more. You can find an answer to most of your 
>questions there, yet there are no simple solutions... as you may 
>well have grasped.
>
>
>Ron
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Gennaro Brooks-Church" 
><info at ecobrooklyn.com>
>To: "GB REPP" <Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org>
>Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 11:08 AM
>Subject: [Greenbuilding] pvc or iron?
>
>
>>I'm installing a plumbing system in a house. Does anyone have
>>suggestions of what waste pipes to use?
>>Code allows cast iron or pvc.
>>Pvc is much cheaper but has a bad rap since it isn't green.
>>I was wondering if there are any arguments for or against iron/pvc
>>that you might be able to share with me.
>>
>>Gennaro Brooks-Church
>>Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
>>www.EcoBrooklyn.com
>>
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